1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to pet food bowls, and more particularly, to such bowls that include a protection against crawling insects.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many designs for pet food bowls have been designed in the past. Some of them with the same objectives sought in the present application, in particular, preventing insects from crawling inside the bowl.
Applicant believes that the closest reference corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,108 issued to Faeroe in 1991. The patented bowl includes a protective removable flange. However, it differs from the present invention because it is mounted at the rim of the container and this design has several drawbacks, including providing a less stable device since the flange contributes to add weight above the geometrical center plane of the bowl thereby raising its center of gravity. Additionally, the flange needs a locking mechanism that a user needs to push down to lock and pull up to unlock. The sudden forces that need to be applied to accomplish this may cause the liquid or food to be spilled. This has been eliminated in the present invention where the sloping upper peripheral wall frictionally engages with the cooperating slanted inner wall of annular protective cover of the present invention. The result being a sufficiently large gap that prevents small insects, specially ants, from crawling inside the bowl while at the same time the gap is small enough to prevent the pet from accessing the water which may be contaminated or even include a mild poison.
Other patents describing the closest subject matter provide for a number of more or less complicated features that fail to solve the problem in an efficient and economical way. None of these patents suggest the novel features of the present invention.